Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University is the oldest university in the Krasnoyarsk region.

This year it has begun to prepare for the ceremonial celebration of its 80th anniversary. Today Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev is one of the leading educational institutions of Siberia and the Far East. In 1993 it got the status of the university. In 2004 the university was named after a Russian writer V.P. Astafiev, who was an honorary professor of KSPU and a respectful patron of the university.

Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University is remarkably different from  other (mostly technical) universities of Krasnoyarsk, not only by its history, but also a wide variety of forms and methods of teaching, training and education of students, designed to provide them with a wide range of cultural values and social and personal skills required for their future success in a modern school. The effectiveness of such important social and humanitarian orientation of the university has been highly praised by the Independent Public Council of the “100 of the best universities  of Russia”. The University has been awarded for the third time by the diploma of  "The best of the  special universities" in this contest in 2011.

The University offers young people of own region and neighboring regions a wide range of educational services on 51 programs of higher education, 28 postgraduate educational programs, 17 training programs, 13 programs of professional growth and 8 programs of secondary vocational education. The University consists of eight faculties and five institutes (the Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, the Institute of Psychology, Pedagogy and Education Management, the Institute of Special Pedagogy, the Institute of Physical Education, Sport and Health named after I. Yarygin, the Institute of Additional Education and Training), 61 departments.

The university established a system for the preparation of teachers in higher education. Preparation of candidates is carried out on the based high school graduate in 28 program majors, having enrolled 288 people. The doctoral studies on two spheres: educational and historical sciences, there are 5 dissertation councils, where are carried out 135 theses were probated from 2005 to 2010. In 2010 the dissertation council D 212.097.03 on the specialty 13.00.02 "Theory and methods of training and education (biology, physics)" was opened. In 2011 the dissertation council  on the specialty 13.00.08 "Theory and Methods of Professional Education" was opened.

The scientific activity of the University is conducted in 14 major areas, a number of these activities are innovative. For example, the quality of teacher education: methodology, theory and practice, implementation of a multi-level and multi-disciplinary model of teacher training, the problems of formation civil nature of the new generation of Siberians, theory and practice of social and pedagogical support and integration of children and adults in the community, the content, tools and technologies of open education, pedagogic support for children and adults: an anthropological approach, etc. The university formed and actively develops scientific schools with Russian and international recognition (in total 40).

The University has 12 research teams, implementing innovative projects in the field of education through grants university, 6 mobile groups (consisting of: Head - Professor, 2 post-graduate students and 3) participating in the federal target program "Scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel of innovative Russia "(up to 2013), 4 centers for collective use of scientific data and equipment. In the framework of the program of international cooperation the university has signed 26 current contracts and cooperative agreements with foreign countries. The most active research and educational programs are conducted with the universities of China, Korea, Japan, Germany, Poland and France.

The exchange of students, graduate students and faculty staff is increases. During 2010-2011 academic year the university had 42 foreign attenders  of the Russian language courses in China, Korea, USA, Canada, France and Cameroon. 19 graduates of KSPU named after V.P. Astafiev are studying abroad on the Master and Doctoral programs, mainly in universities of China and the Republic of Korea. There are 6 professors from France, Poland, the USA, South Korea, China and Japan working in the departments of the University. The Professors of KSPU named after V.P. Astafiev give lectures at the University of the Republic of Korea. The Scientists from France, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Poland, the United States are invited to read  scientific and public lectures for teachers and students.

The main direction of the educational activity of the university is training teachers for the  Krasnoyarsk region and its neighboring regions. The share of the number of majors pedagogical  in the sphere "Education and Pedagogy" (36 subjects) is 75.0% of the total number of majors. 25% of other majors are non-pedagogical (12 majors). These include such majors as social work, physical culture and sports, adaptive physical education, geo-ecology, religion, history, political science, translation and translation studies, museum and monument protection, organization management, housekeeping, folk arts.

The University graduates over 2,000 professionals every year. The share of the university graduates working in the regional educational system has always been high and now comprises 82% of the total number of teachers of the region, in the social sphere this figure is more than 40%. The analysis of the university showed that the majority of majors of KSPU named after V.P. Astafiev in the Krasnoyarsk Region do not face a serious competition. The general level of professional training of the university graduates is rated as high by 75,7% employers. Besides they have a good theoretical preparation formed skills on the use of knowledge in solving professional problems, applying modern technologies of teaching by the majority of the graduates.

Being one of the leading educational institutions of the Siberian Federal District, KSPU named after VP Astafiev offers a wide range of educational services on graduate, postgraduate and further education programs. The university created a full cycle of teacher education from children education, elementary, general education and higher school education up to additional education of students and adults provided with a high level of training and development of  researches in a wide range of scientific areas, a significant number of which is aimed at solving problems of pre-school and school education.

The University trains experts for modern integrated education. There are some special areas  for Correctional Education for people with special needs in inclusive classrooms applicant and schools. The changes in the structure of training experts are connected  the needs of the region, the student demand for particular educational programs.

The organization of social project activity ordered by municipal institutions of the region  attracted more than 312 students in 2010, in 2011 it attracted 520 students. The course and diploma works of students are aimed at soling problems of specific cities and regions. Today there are seven areas of such socially significant practice including "Technologies for work with children in a difficult life situation" and "Formation of economic culture of the population".

The university is presently preparing  "Regional Technology Platform for  Development of Social and Humanitary innovation" for the Krasnoyarsk region, which will be considered by the Government of the Krasnoyarsk region in February 2012. The University is the moderator of a number of programs ordered by the administration of the Krasnoyarsk Region such as "Youth Policy in the universities of the Krasnoyarsk Region in 2008-2010," "Character formation of the modern generation of Siberians as a factor of the development of human resources of the region", "Civic education of children and young people of the Krasnoyarsk region".

The increase in efficiency of the university depends on the collaborative work of the university administration staff with all the faculties, institutes, departments and organizational units to prepare their strategies and programs and their implementation. This work has allowed a large number of heads of educational departments and employees of the university to master the necessary techniques of strategic project management, identify the desired goals of development, necessary resources and time limits make them correspond to the Program of Strategic development of the University.

The accumulated experience of modernization of educational, scientific and organizational activities of the university in recent years has recently allowed it to prepare a dynamic Program of  Strategic Development for the next years. The University was the winner of the support contest for strategic development of state educational institutions of higher vocational education organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia on the 19th of December 2011. Successful implementation of this program in the university is the key mission of the further development of pedagogical education.